


Monsters

by ginnyred



Category: SKAM (Italy)
Genre: Banter, Childhood Memories, Fluff, M/M, Summer
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-30
Updated: 2019-06-30
Packaged: 2020-05-31 06:08:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,557
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19420036
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ginnyred/pseuds/ginnyred
Summary: “Your wardrobe is, like, possessed.”It’s past three AM and they’re not sleeping. Mostly just sweating. Nico is not used to having to sleep without air conditioning, but it’s too hot for Marti too.





	Monsters

“Your wardrobe is, like, possessed.”

It’s past three AM and they’re not sleeping. Mostly just sweating. Nico is not used to having to sleep without air conditioning, but it’s too hot for Marti too.

He went to the bathroom no more than ten minutes ago to drench two towels in cold water, but they’re already burning hot. Marti removes his from his forehead and throws it to the floor, huffing in annoyance.

_Useless._

He hears Nico chuckle at his side. He’s playing with his own towel, squeezing every last droplet of water out of it and onto his chest. Marti scoffs.

Like that helps. Marti is surprised the water doesn’t evaporate mid-air from the heat.

“What did you say?” Marti asks, nudging Nico’s calf with his foot.

“Mh?”

“Before. You said something about someone who’s possessed?”

“What? No,” Nico snorts a laugh. “ _Your wardrobe_ is possessed. It keeps making the weirdest noises. I thought they came from outside at first, but-”

“Ah, no, it’s the wardrobe. It does that sometimes, when it’s like, really hot. It’s the wood doing… something? I don’t really know.”

“It’s the wood being possessed.”

Marti laughs.

“Probably. I’m so used to it I don’t even notice it anymore.”

“How?” Nico turns his head to look at him, eyebrows raised. “It sounds like it’s crying.”

“More like growling.” Marti smiles. “When I was a kid I used to think there was a monster living in there.”

He makes eye contact with Nico and watches him smile fondly back, with a hint of amusement. Marti can tell even in the dark.

“How did you know it was a monster?” Nico asks, drawing the words out, gently mocking.

Marti scoffs.

“I mean, it lives in the wardrobe. It _growls_. What was I supposed to think?”

“Maybe that’s just how it speaks. You can’t tell because you don’t speak its language.”

“And you can?”

“Yeah.” Nico puts his index finger to his mouth. “Shhhhh. Hear?” The room is completely silent, apart from the neighbours’ dog barking outside. Marti snorts. “It’s saying: is it too hot or can I can kiss you?”

“Can _it_ kiss me? Or can _you?_ ”

Nico grins.

“Well, which one would you like best?”

Marti rolls his eyes and kisses Nico first.

It’s way too hot for it. Marti’s grip on the side of Nico’s neck feels slippery and uncomfortable, and Marti is sure Nico’s hand in his hair is now sticky with sweat. They only manage to kiss for a few seconds, opening their mouths tentatively, before the heat becomes intolerable and they have to break apart.

Nico groans, as Marti pulls back, and lets himself fall down dramatically onto the pillow.

“We’re so staying at my place next time,” he sighs.

“Staying over at _yours_ when _my_ mum isn’t home?” Marti asks sarcastically. “Brilliant.”

“Well, at least at my place we wouldn’t have to sleep five meters apart to avoid spontaneous combustion.”

“You’re so spoiled. People live without air conditioning, you know?”

“See,” Nico counters, poking Marti’s arm. “I’d love to show you who’s actually the spoiled one here, but I can’t, ‘cause we might catch fire in the process.”

Marti groans. He likes the idea a little too much, but he can't afford to.

“Don’t tell me this stuff. It’s too hot as it is.”

“My point exactly.” Nico sighs and starts trailing his finger up and down Marti’s arm, doodling imaginary shapes with lots of loops and curves all the way to his wrist and back. “Can I do this?”

Marti grins.

“You’re already doing it.”

“Shut up.” Nico rolls his eyes. “Actually,” he adds as an afterthought. “Tell me about this non-monster of yours.”

“Cremuzio.”

“Who?”

“Cremuzio, it’s its name. Gio chose it.”

“Gio knows about this?” Nico asks, amused.

“We spent many afternoons trying to find Cremuzio when we were kids,” Marti says with a fond smile. He lowers his voice as if telling a secret. “But it hides really well during the day.”

“And what if you’d found it?” Nico asks. His fingers on Marti’s arm still and he looks up at him, his lips curved in a lopsided smile. “What if one afternoon you’d opened the wardrobe and this little green scaly thing had been inside?”

“We’d have panicked. Probably?” Marti frowns. “How did you know we thought it was green and scaly?”

“You guys are predictable,” Nico clicks his tongue, clearly very pleased with himself. “Also, that drawing of yours on the library shelves.”

“Oh, that,” Marti laughs, mildly embarrassed. It is, in fact, a framed drawing of Cremuzio coming out of the wardrobe. “Please don’t judge my art skills from that. I was six. I mean, not that I’ve improved much, but still-”

Nico just smiles.

“What were you afraid it’d do?”

Marti considers it for a moment and realises he doesn't know.

“I… didn’t think that far,” he says slowly. “There was this thing in my wardrobe growling to be let out. And I couldn’t let it.” Marti sees Nico raise his eyebrows, lips curving up, and pretends to slap his wrist, though he’s smiling too. “Shut up.”

“I didn’t say anything.”

“You were thinking it.”

Nico laughs.

“Maybe we should, though. Let it out. I mean, it’s been in there for how long? Twelve years? I’m sure Cremuzio would love to take a walk. Stretch its seven legs and dragon tail.”

Marti raises an eyebrow at Nico.

“And how do you suggest we do it?”

“We just… open the wardrobe. Here.” Nico pushes himself up and crawls across the bed on all fours. He steals a quick kiss as he climbs on top of Marti and then off him to reach the edge of the bed. He stands up and smiles down at him, bright and easy, and opens the wardrobe door with a flourish. “Cremuzio, you’re free. There’s a million degrees out here too but maybe you’d like a snack?”

“Don’t tempt it,” Marti laughs. “I don’t want to become its midnight snack.”

“Too late for that, it’s almost four,” Nico leans down and pokes Marti in the ribs. “Also, you’re too bony. Not much to snack on here.”

He grins as his hand travels down Marti’s side, his nails grazing gently against his skin, and Marti arches into the touch, goosebumps spreading in the trail of Nico’s fingers.

Marti doesn’t really know what he’s doing when he pulls Nico down on top of him by his arm. He blames the lack of sleep. His brain screams _closer_ and he goes with it.

He even forgets about the heat for a second.

But only for a second.

Marti barely manages to grab the sides of Nico’s face - slippery, sweaty - to guide him down for a open-mouthed kiss before his face starts burning. They’re pressed together, chest to chest, and he can barely breathe. And yeah, that’s what Nico always does to him. But also the fucking heatwave.

Marti curses under his breath.

“Take a shower with me?” Marti offers, a bit breathless. “Cremuzio can manage. There are snacks in the fridge. Non-human ones, I mean.”

Nico smiles. It’s suggestive, but also very soft. Marti kisses him again before he can stop himself.

“Let me ask Cremuzio what it thinks,” Nico says, mock-serious, and leans to the side to knock on the wardrobe door. “Hey, man, you alright with some Cornetto? Marti isn’t edible.” He grins. “Pity, I know.”

They’re both taken aback by the sudden low-pitched growl coming from the wardrobe at Marti’s right. It’s not a growl at all: it’s the wood creaking, Marti knows.

Or, well, rationally he knows. But everything feels a little bit weird at four AM with one’s brain fried by the heat.

Marti looks up at Nico, eyes wide. There is a heavy pause, charged, expectant – then Nico laughs.

“Cremuzio agrees,” he announces brightly, pushing himself up from the bed and offering Marti a hand. “Come on. You still want to take this shower, yeah?”

Marti lets himself be pulled up and sits on the edge of the bed. He pouts expectantly at Nico and he knows Nico knows what he wants without having to ask.

He makes grabby hands at him and Nico rolls his eyes.

“Who’s the spoiled one now?” Nico asks in a long suffering tone that doesn't fool Marti for one second, as Nico is already leaning down so Marti can wrap himself around him. He lifts him up with relative ease and Marti sighs contentedly.

(Marti realised Nico could do this by accident. At the beach, a month ago. He saw Nico lift up Elia like it was nothing to throw him into the water and his brain short-circuited.)

“Bye, Cremuzio,” Marti says over Nico’s shoulder. He kisses the side of Nico’s neck, mainly because it’s right there. “Enjoy the Cornetto.”

“Leave some for us if you can,” Nico echoes, as they start making their way to the bathroom, Nico’s hands squeezing Marti’s thighs, half-teasing.

The answering growl from Marti’s bedroom is faint, but Marti hears it anyway when Nico pushes open the bathroom door.

 _It’s the wood creaking_ , Marti tells himself.

They step into the shower and when the first spray of cold water hits his shoulder blades, Marti sighs in relief, hugging Nico close.

It's definitely the wood creaking, he knows. But really, it’s fine either way.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm told "it doesn't get any colder" if I keep complaining about the heat.
> 
> So I wrote about it.


End file.
